Method of making conveyer bands



Dec. 22, 1925 1,566,3'6 .l. BRANDwooD ET AL METHOD OF MAKING CONVEYER BANDS Filed June 21, 1924 Patented Dec. 22, i925.

UNITED4 STATES 15fa369 PATENT OFFICE.-

JOHN BRANDWOOD, 0F SOUTHPORT, AND THOMAS BRANDOOD, OF BURY, ENG- LAND, AND JOSEPH BRAIEDWOOD, OF XVABAN, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD GF MAKNG- CONVEYER BANDS.

Appneationlmea Julie si, iss-fi. 'serial N0.v2i,579.

To all whom t may '0o-noem.'

Be it known that we, JOHN llininivwn, THOMAS BnANDweoD, and losnr lnirnwoon, all subjects of the King of Great Britain and ireland, residing, respectively, Southport, in the county of Lancaster, Eng land; Bury, in the county of Lancaster, England; and lVaban, in the State of Massachusetts, United vStatesof America, have invented a new or improved Method of Making Conveyer Bands, of which the following is a specification;

These improvements relate to conveyer bands, and more particularly to conveyer bands such as are employed in apparatus wherein materials are -held between two endless conveyers to be traversed through an apparatus for the fluid treatment of the material, the fluid passing through the conveyers and through the material in either direction. Although particularly suitable for this type of apparatus the conveyer forming the object of these improvements may however be employed for any purpose for which a conveyer may be employed.

Bands or belts composed of wire spirals threaded into each other, with subsequent liattening of the spirals of the thus woven band, have been proposed, the wire used being of ordinary metal, and the bands eniployed for the purposes to which bands are usually put and as driving belts. The object of the present improvements is a conveyer band of this type but of non-ferrous metal,

ordinary corrodible metal being unsuitable for the special purpose above mentioned. Non-ferrous metals however cannot be formed into a band as described by merel37 threading the spirals and flattening the whole, as previously proposed, and it is the object of these improvements to provide a band or belt of non-ferrous metals composed of threaded wire spirals flattened to give the necessary conveyer surface. In carrying them into effect we take spirals of a nonferrous metal, as for instance a nickel alloy, thread or weave them together, wind the so woven band upon a flanged beam or drum, anneal it inthat condition, and then pass the band between heavy rollers to flatten the spirals. The longitudinal edges of the band are left free, and we lind that as a result of this process each spiral is flattened equally, the said flattening taking place mostly in the length of the woven band when the spiallowed to cool down to normal..

- rals are tranverse to such length. lVithout annealing, spiral wires of non-ferrous metals will not flatten equally, and the result of any attempt to flatten them isbnclrling and yirregularity of the band surface.

ln the drawingsannexed, Figures l. and 2 are respectively plan and end vienv of a small section of band formed of non-ferrous wire which has been prepared by extrusion in the manner known in the making of inattress wire; Figs. 3 and l are similar views of the saine section of band after flattening; Fig is an elevation of one length of wire employed to join the ends of a hand to gether; and Fig. 6 shows the method of making the joint with the joint-ing lengthvr of wire of Fig. 5.

Lengths of wire 7 are prepared as stated above by the method known in the formation of mattress wire, that is to say, the. metal is extruded through arrotating ydie to give the extruded metal its spiral form, the rate of extrusion and rate of rotation of the die regulating the pitch of the spiral. Such method of forming a wire is not of course claimed herein. The lengths of wire 7 are cut to equal lengths, and are threaded or woven into each 'other as shown in Figs. l and 2, these lengths being transverse to vthe band being formed. The band being completed to the desired length by this means, it is rolled upon a flanged beam or drum, and the said beam or drum is then placed in an annealing furnace. A preferred temperature for the furnace is from 400 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, this being maintained for about two hours and then The beam or drum of wire band is then taken to a roller press, and from the said beam or drum, resting in suitable bearings, the band is fed to the nip of the press rollers and passed between such rollers, the wire spirals being thus flattened evenly. The pressure of the rollers should be about 4:0 tons to the square inch, but this of course may vary according to the pitch of the spirals and the thickness of the wire.

It is important that the longitudinal edges S of the band should be left free to allow for the slight transversal expansion of the wire during the flattening. We find that with the wire spirals woven transversely to the band length the expansion is appreciably Vgreater in the direction of the length of the 

